Goro Majima is a fan favorite character who sometimes struggles to shine. Originally introduced as a Joker-esque rival character to Kazuma Kiryu, his popularity eventually led to him earning more screen time and increased depth. To me, the game where he broke through was Yakuza 0, which allowed him to be a playable protagonist and grounded his over-the-top excess with a surprisingly likable and empathetic character. I think that's why I enjoyed Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii as much as I did. It's a change to put Majima in the driver's seat and let him have an adventure in a way that emphasizes his character, rather than simply busting out of random doors in wacky costumes to assault Kiryu.

Pirate Yakuza opens up with Majima waking up on a beach, having been rescued from certain death by a young boy named Noah. Unfortunately for Majima, he's lost all memory of who he is, how he got there, or what his goal is. What he does discover is that he's on an island near Hawaii, and thanks to an underground arena called Madlantis, the waters are now populated by old-school pirate galleons. Without much else to do, the newly amnesiac Majima aims to repay Noah by taking him on the adventure of a lifetime; the pair decides to search for an ancient lost pirate treasure. I mean, what else is Majima going to do if he has access to a pirate ship?

The amnesia gimmick in Pirate Yakuza largely seems to exist as an excuse to lightly backtrack Majima to his Yakuza 0 personality, so he has less baggage from the decades in between. I can't complain since it makes him a better protagonist by emphasizing his more friendly traits rather than his Mad Dog persona. He's still a goofy, absurd, ridiculous character, but in a more pleasant way. It helps that he's a likable character who serves as a fantastic contrast to Kiryu and Ichiban. Majima's personality is best defined as being "all in." It doesn't matter what kind of raw insanity he's facing; he'll probably give his trademark laugh and hop to it.

This means you get a lot of extremely fun Majima interaction, but it also means the actual plot is thin. It's arguably the most straightforward, simple and predictable Yakuza plot to date, mostly serving as an excuse for Majima to star in a relatively lighthearted pirate adventure. It doesn't even go into the surprising depths of The Man Who Erased His Name. You get Majima fighting pirates and helping a plucky young kid and not a darn thing beyond that. I don't mind it being straightforward, but I do wish for a little more meat to the main story. I think it's the most I've enjoyed Majima since Yakuza 0 because he feels like a more well-rounded character while maintaining his trademark quirkiness.

Pirate Yakuza goes back to the brawler-based combat of the pre-Ichiban Like a Dragon titles. In particular, the game features two fighting styles: Mad Dog and Sea Dog. Mad Dog is a more traditional Majima-esque fighting style where he fights with his fists and knives, while Sea Dog has him embrace his inner pirate by fighting with cutlasses, a flintlock, and a grappling hook. Mad Dog tends to specialize more in single target combat, while Sea Dog can perform powerful area attacks and charged pistol shots.

New to the combat system is the ability to jump. This allows players to transition Majima from ground combos to air combos relatively seamlessly. Air combos are extremely powerful and leave the enemy helpless but require some effort to get going. Strong enemies need to be staggered before they can be launched into the air so you can't effortlessly juggle foes all day, but it offers some strong benefits nonetheless. It's also fun to knock a powerful foe into the air and leave them helpless while Majima cuts them into ribbons.

While Majima still has access to the series' traditional context-sensitive Heat attacks, he now has a special Madness Gauge. This gauge is shared between the two different fighting styles but does something different in each. In Mad Dog, it lets Majima summon shadowy duplicates of himself to fight alongside him for a short period of time, while in Sea Dog, he can use special Devil Instruments to summon a giant animal ally to do a powerful attack. Like the rest of his styles, the shadow clones tend to be better for one-on-one fights, while the animal summons tends to be great for clearing out foes.

I think Pirate Yakuza has my favorite iteration to date of the Yakuza brawler gameplay. It is fast-paced and fun, it rewards aggression, and it plays incredibly smoothly. I feel like Majima's mix of styles work together far better than Kiryu's did in Yakuza Gaiden, and I readily shifted between Sea and Mad Dog styles rather than relying on one overpowered attack.

I have a few minor complaints. As neat as the air combat is, it never feels quite as natural as expected in a brawler. The act of transitioning from ground to air is pretty deliberate. A dedicated jump button would've felt more natural, and I hope that if the next game brings back air combat, it looks more like how other brawlers handle it.

Another complaint is that Majima feels really strong, which can make some of the combat scenarios feel too easy. At times, it feels almost like Dynasty Warriors, which is incredibly fun but can lead to some sequences feeling repetitive. The game tries to balance this by reducing your ability to heal. Most of the major side content doesn't allow you to access your pause menu, which means you can't shovel healing items into your mouth, but it feels like it overcompensated. This isn't the end of the world since Yakuza titles do trend toward being too easy, but some extra bite would've been nice.

As one might expect, being a pirate means exploring the ocean with your ship. Once you've unlocked the Goromaru, you can take it onto the ocean and sail around. The ocean is divided into small zones that you can warp between by finding lighthouses. Each zone is populated by a selection of enemies and special islands, which contain on-foot combat challenges that you complete to unlock treasures. While you can freely sail around the environment, there are speed-boosting ocean currents that form a "highway" you can follow to move quickly between locations.

Moving around on the ship was a bit disappointing. Rather than any sense of exploration, you're just moving into one of the speed boost zones and following it directly to the next landmark. There's no good reason to ever do anything else. I wasn't expecting a full Assassin's Creed: Black Flag open world, but I would've really liked if there were a greater emphasis on wandering around while encountering events on the ocean, similar to exploration on foot. The current version feels like busywork, and it was rarely exciting to traverse the ocean.

Ship combat is more engaging, but it's repetitive. Your ship has access to three sets of weapons: port cannons, starboard cannons, and a rapid-firing mounted machine gun that aims toward the front. You need to move and maneuver your ship around enemies, so your weapons face them and then launch a volley of attacks while simultaneously avoiding their attacks. You also have a powerful jet boost to dodge attacks or ram directly into an enemy for bonus damage. You can let go of the wheel to temporarily cloak your ship with smoke grenades while you help heal injured crewmates or have Majima grab a rocket launcher and manually attack foes. An enemy is defeated either when their ship is sunk, or they're damaged enough that you can send your crew to board their ship for a big brawl.

Combat depends on how you build your weapons. You can equip a different weapon to each slot, and each has its own effects. You can go for a powerful long-range laser cannon, toxic poison shell, freezing ice bullets, or you can mix and match them. While raw damage is king for most of the game, it's critical to be able to weaken and debuff enemy ships later on. You also build your own crew from a variety of recruitable characters, each with their own stats and skills. You'll need to assign gunners, boarding parties, a first mate and support staff, so you can create whatever crew you want. Personally, my MVP was a man wearing a sheep head who spoke entirely in "baa's" and whose machine gun killed ship captains before Majima could get close.

Outside of the ship combat, Pirate Yakuza contains all of the familiar Yakuza staples, including side-quests and minigames. You return to the same Hawaiian map as in Infinite Wealth but with a load of new side-quests, a mix of new and old minigames, and a large number of collectibles ranging from minibosses to collectible crew mates. Of course, you can spend a bunch of time playing arcade games and desperately trying to collect every plushie in the crane games.

I was glad to return to Hawaii again because it's a fun place to explore, but it occasionally felt too familiar. A number of the minigames are the exact same ones that Ichiban did with minimal changes, but there are enough fresh ones to keep it from feeling too similar. It falls into the same space as The Man Who Erased His Name, which feels like an excuse to let those who don't enjoy the RPG side of the Yakuza franchise have a game to explore Hawaii, rather than something that stands on its own.

There's not a lot to say about Pirate Yakuza in terms of visuals. It recycles a lot of the same basic designs and areas from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and is pretty much on par with that game. The new ocean areas are a tad simplistic and could've used a little flair, but Hawaii is charming to explore, and I enjoyed Madlantis' absurd design sense. The voice acting is quite good in both English and Japanese. Matt Mercer's Majima is difficult to get used to, but he gives it his full effort, especially when the game launches into impromptu Disney musical numbers.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii gives players exactly what they expect from the title. It's a rollicking, funny, and enjoyable side story that lets fan favorite Goro Majima shine in a way he hasn't since Yakuza 0. The main plot is a little thin, and the pirate mechanics are bare bones, but beneath that, it's a darn fun Yakuza adventure, and it contains perhaps the best iteration of the game's brawler mechanics to date. Any complaints boil down to, "It's more of Like a Dragon," and that's always good.

Score: 8.0/10